1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to medical devices and, more particularly, to specialized patient supports interrelated with medical data acquisition devices for optimally monitoring, processing, storing, displaying and utilizing patient data.
2. Background of the Invention
Patient data is often life-critical, especially in trauma and intensive care settings. It provides caregivers with objective information about the patient's condition. By comparing simultaneous data relating to a variety of strategic physiological parameters, caregivers can not only monitor and diagnose the patient's condition, but they can also evaluate the efficacy (and hence, value) of the patient's treatment.
With more technologies being utilized, the critical care room can easily become crowded, complicated and confusing. Each patient will typically have a vital signs monitor, a ventilator, multiple intravenous pumps, and half a dozen or so other ancillary life-supporting and/or therapeutic devices. The number grows as our understanding of medicine increases and more technologies become available. As for monitors alone, it is not uncommon to have your basic vital signs monitor plus another three or four specialized monitors crowded into any given room, with each unique monitor being mounted on a separate wheeled cart, often recording and displaying only a single vital sign. Patient temperature, blood pressure, EKG, heart rate, and SaO2 (i.e., blood oxygen levels) are routinely monitored, as well as any number of additional vital signs or conditions that may be of particular interest with a given patient. A modern critical care room may also utilize a bedside computer terminal for patient charting. The caregiver brings up the patient's chart electronically to determine what procedures have been prescribed and updates it as appropriate. The overall result is a complex network of wires, transducers, displays, bulky cabinets, and device carts surrounding the critical care patient.
Use of patient-rotating beds and the like, such as those described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,142,719 and 4,763,463, presents particular difficulties in dealing with the complexity of critical care monitoring systems. Such beds inherently move a patient's body, typically rotating the body at least 90.degree. from side to side. Since the patient's position is constantly moving relative to his monitors, the transducers and their cables must accommodate such movement. If a transducer is connected to a patient when the patient is rotated right, the transducer lead might be drawn taught as the patient is rotated to the left if the caregiver has not provided adequate slack in the line. The potential consequences are obvious--not only can the transducers become dislodged or disconnected, but the wires can interfere with both equipment and caregivers.
Assuming all the leads remain properly connected, a caregiver then has the task of watching and mentally correlating each of the various displays with the patient to make decisions as to patient treatment. For instance, if a patient's blood pressure is down, the patient may need to be positioned in the Trendelenburg position, or if SaO2 levels are low, automatic ventilation or kinetic therapy may be prescribed. The long-recognized need in the critical care setting is to simultaneously correlate as much patient data with as many effective therapies as may be necessary to maintain and/or improve the patient's condition.
The need to occasionally transport a patient from one room to another further complicates matters. When transporting, each of the numerous pieces of wheeled equipment must simultaneously be rolled to the new location. Moreover, since virtually all the various technologies must first be disconnected from their wall power for transport, they must each have stand-by power for transport, or be manually operated if possible. Many such stand-by schemes inherently risk loss of stored data in-transit. The result, too often, is to simplify matters by completely disconnecting the equipment during transport, when patient data is equally if not more important.
While others have long recognized the need to consolidate and simplify patient monitoring systems, competition amongst manufacturers tends to work against integration. Many manufacturers would rather set the standards for equipment interface, positioning themselves as the leader and forcing others to follow. They do not want other devices to utilize their information but would rather have customers be tied to them. They want customers to buy not only their transducers, but also their profit-laden monitors. Although some companies have established products which incorporate various devices in a transportable unit, the result too often is a seemingly insurmountable lack of communication between medical device transducers and monitors made by different competitors.
It is the overriding object of the present invention to address the problems and encumbrances of the prior art, providing a simpler, more convenient and efficient interface for medical data acquisition. This will enable caregivers to more efficiently monitor data, evaluate patient status, and adapt patient therapy, in virtually all circumstances. The particular applications range from basic lead connections, to pressure relieving mattresses, to lateral rotation beds.